Supermassive Games faces third round of layoffs in two years, with up to 75 jobs at risk
Supermassive Games has begun a redundancy consultation process that could see up to 75 employees lose their jobs, the studio announced on 11 August 2026 (Eurogamer).
The Horsham-based developer, best known for narrative horror titles including the Dark Pictures anthology and last year's Little Nightmares 3, described the cuts as "a necessary step to ensure the sustainability of the company" and said its priority would be supporting those affected (Eurogamer).
In UK employment law, a redundancy consultation is a formal period in which the employer must discuss proposed job losses with affected staff before final decisions are made — meaning the final number could still shift before the process closes.
This is the third time in roughly two years that Supermassive has reduced its headcount. In February 2024, Bloomberg reported that 150 employees had been told their roles were at risk, with 90 redundancies expected as part of a broader reorganisation (Bloomberg). Then in July 2025, the studio laid off up to 36 staff, citing a need to align its team structure with changes sweeping the wider industry (GamesIndustry.biz).
That second round came paired with a delay. Directive 8020, a sci-fi horror entry in the Dark Pictures series, was pushed from its original 2025 window into the first half of 2026 at the same time the cuts were confirmed (GamesIndustry.biz). The studio said at the time that the layoffs would not affect development of Little Nightmares 3, which went on to release in October 2025 to mixed reviews (Eurogamer).
Supermassive took over the Little Nightmares series from its original developer, Tarsier Studios, and the third entry was its first full game in the franchise. The Dark Pictures series, which began in 2019 with Man of Medan, has been the studio's flagship brand — standalone horror stories released roughly annually, with players' choices shaping who survives.
Leadership has also been in flux. Robert Henrysson announced in July 2026 that he would step down as both CEO of Supermassive and as a partner at Nordisk, the Danish media group that owns the studio (GamesIndustry.biz). Nordisk is part of Egmont, a larger Scandinavian media conglomerate.
For a studio that employs hundreds of people across multiple projects, three rounds of cuts in 24 months adds pressure on the teams that remain — and on a release schedule that has already absorbed one significant delay.
